i6o THE HORSE AND ITS RELATIVES 



the blackness of the skin, which is compared to 

 antimony (kohl). Five strains of the kohl breed 

 are generally recognised by the Bedouin, of which 

 the kehailan is the first and best. Here it may be 

 mentioned that the low-caste horses of the towns 

 are termed khadishes by the Bedouin. 



Taking both external and anatomical characters 

 into consideration, Professor H. F. Osborn 1 has 

 formulated the following features as distinctive of 

 the Arab : The skull is relatively short, very wide 

 between the eye-sockets, which are high and pro- 

 minent, giving the eyes a wide range of vision, 

 while the profile of the face is concave (pi. ix. fig. 2) 

 and the lower jaw slender in front and deep and 

 wide-set behind. The chest is rounded, and the 

 back and the loins are well " ribbed up," due to the 

 fact that there are only five (in place of the normal 

 six) lumbar or ribless vertebrae. The pelvis has a 

 nearly horizontal position a character connected 

 with speed ; the croup, or tail-region, is relatively 

 high, and the number of caudal, or tail, vertebrae 

 few. In the limbs the shaft of the ulna, or small 

 bone of the lower part of the fore-leg, is complete ; 

 the cannon-bones are elongated and slender, and 

 the pasterns long arid sloping. Allusion is also 

 made to the occurrence of a slight depression in 

 front of the eye-socket, and to the statement that 



1 Bull. Amer. Mus. Nat. Hist. vol. xxiii. p. 259, 1907. 



